Sunday A&E: Pick 6, the best bets for the week ahead

Jul. 11, 2013

More than 50 artists' booths are popping up like dandelions today at Reiman Gardens in Ames. / Special to the Register

Plain White T's perform Wednesday at Woooly's. / Special to the Register

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1. More than 50 artists’ booths are popping up like dandelions today at Reiman Gardens in Ames. Visitors to the 10th annual Garden Art Fair can browse and buy jewelry, watercolors, pottery, woodwork, glass and more from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and, while they’re there, see 13 landscape sculptures in the summer-long show “More Than Meets the Iowa.” $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $3 for students, and free for kids under 4. www.reimangardens.com

2. During the more-than-decade long Sierra Leone Civil War, many residents fled to neighboring Guinea. There displaced musicians banded together to form Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. The reggae/world music act performs at 8 p.m. Monday at DG’s Tap House, 127 Main St., Ames. The band’s story was told in the 2005 documentary “Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars,” and the band has opened for Aerosmith. The All Stars’ most recent album, “Radio Salone,” was released last year. $10. www.midwestix.com

3. “Hey There Delilah” act Plain White T’s perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Wooly’s, 504 E. Locust St. The band’s other hits include “1, 2, 3, 4” and “Rhythm of Love.” Plain White T’s released a new EP, “Should’ve Gone to Bed,” in April. The Wind and The Wave and Andrew Ripp open. $16-$18. www.ticketfly.com

4. “In a Real Love” country singer Phil Vassar plays the Val Air Ballroom, 301 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines, at 8 p.m. Thursday. Vassar has scored hits with “Just Another Day in Paradise,” “Last Day of My Life” and “Love is a Beautiful Thing.” He’s recently released several new songs, including “Dont Miss Your Life,” off a yet-to-be-titled upcoming album. $30-$75. www.ticketmaster.com.

5. Twenty painted horse skulls will hang soon from the ceiling of Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery, where Council Bluffs native Scott Robert Hudson’s show “Wild Horses” opens Friday. The artist dreamed up the installation after an encounter with wild horses in a Nevada desert. The installation will be displayed with a simultaneous show called “Environmental Concerns” by Margaret Whiting of Waterloo. Her work incorporates science texts, law books, encyclopedias and maps. Both shows remain through Sept. 8, with yoga sessions, tours and other events planned for the gallery between now and then. Free admission. www.grinnell.edu/ faulconergallery

6. Dirty rotten Iago plots to take down his boss, the wife of his boss, and just about everybody else in a fresh staging of “The Passion of Othello” at the Iowa Shakespeare Festival of the Classic Arts. The adapted classic starts with a public dress rehearsal at 8 p.m. Thursday and full-on performances at the same time Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 21, at downtown’s Simon Estes Amphitheater. Lawn seating is free, VIP tents and tables are available for $50, and the gates open two hours before each show. www.midwestix.com